The purpose of this blog is to document my adventures in homebrewing, mainly so I can learn from my mistakes. I'm posting it online so others can learn from my mistakes too. (I make a lot of them). Now with comments on articles about beer and home brewing and the occasional beer review, as well as all of my home brew recipes.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"You Can't Win if You Don't Play"...catchy slogan for the Illinois lottery, a game that is rigged in favor of the house. You can't lose either, but they don't mention that. Now homebrew competitions, that is another story; ideally the best beer should win. But you still need to enter competitions if you want to win.

So what did Señor Brew™ do? He bottled up some of his delicious Superbowl Stout and entered it into two competitions. Or at least he thinks he did.

The first is the Maltose Falcon's Mayfaire competition. This is the one Señor Brew™ is not too sure if he's in or not. There was a problem with entries being picked up from the local home brew shop (LHBS) too early. Señor Brew™ dropped off his entry before the cutoff time, but apparently the entries had already been picked up. After email conversations with the competition organizer, he thinks he's in. We will know for certain when the entry fee cheque is cashed.

The second is the Inland Brewing Second Annual Pro Am Competition. The coolest thing about this competition is that the winner of Best of Show gets to brew his or her recipe on their 7 BBL system, and is also entered into the Great American Beer Festival's Pro Am competition. Wish Señor Brew™ luck!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Just a quick update on the barleywine that was brewed in conjunction with my Superbowl Stout as part of a split batch. It is kegged and cold conditoning in my mini-fridge. I drew samples to measure final gravity and do a tasting--it tastes awesome! Final gravity was 1.025, which puts it at 9.3% alcohol by volume. I plan to get a hold of some smaller bottles (7 or 8 oz.) and bottle this one to save for special occasions. I need to come up with a good name for this one--any suggestions, readers?